Parliament, Tuesday, 25 February 2025 – The Select Committee on Education, Sciences and the Creative Industries Chairperson, Mr Makhi Feni, has noted concerning comments about the use of Swahili and Mandarin in South Africa’s public schools.
Media reports on the weekend indicated that Gauteng Premier Mr Panyaza Lesufi announced that he was in favour of plans to introduce these languages for use in public schools.
“The call is progressive but in the current context where performance challenges to many black children in public schools related to language, it is then misguided and unfortunate. The recently promulgated Basic Education Laws Amendment Act postulates on matters of language and language use in schools,” Mr Feni said.
He also said it would be satisfying if and when such plans are firstly canvassed not only with Parliament but also with other stakeholders in the education sector, that a discussion be held about how such a move will enhance university education and the skills that the economy requires.
“South Africa is a multilinguistic society that prides itself in its languages and diversity. All our official languages are recognised in the Constitution. At this juncture, the debate is about mother education and decoloniality; we should confine ourselves to that.
“It is not clear what motivated Premier Lesufi to think like this and why. Our task, individually and collectively, is to empower South African languages the best way we could, and we should avail resources to empower indigenous language authors whose role can never be emphasised more,” Mr Feni added.
Mr Feni called on government officials to resist recolonisation and never forget the history of language-related battles in South Africa’s history. "Perhaps Premier Lesufi's alleged utterances should be a start of a general language debate."
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION, SCIENCES AND THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES, MR MAKHI FENI.
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